Security Horizons

Security Horizons

Russia’s Strategic Culture and Partnership in West Asia Arms Trends

Authors
amir mohammad haji yousefi 1
abbas zolfaghari 2
1 Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Shahid Beheshti University
2 PhD student in International Relations, Shahid Beheshti University
Abstract
Russia's foreign and defense-security policy is influenced by its strategic culture, and the components of strategic culture as proponents of foreign policy have shaped its international outlook. Playing the role of the "Great Power of the World" is one of the pillars of Russia's international vision that has strengthened its domestic weapons capability and focused on export markets to gain economic benefits and increase political influence. The events of the Arab Spring of 2011 were a turning point in foreign policy and, consequently, Russia's weapons policy in the West Asian region, and it made the development of relations with the countries of the region a serious agenda of its foreign policy apparatus. In the field of weapons, Russia will pursue a policy of maintaining and expanding existing military and weapons cooperation with some countries in the region, such as Iran, reviving traditional Soviet-era weapons markets such as Iraq, and establishing military and weapons relations with Western-oriented countries such as Turkey. The main question is, what is the most important factor influencing Russia's weapons policy in West Asia and its most important security consequence in the last two decades? The paper assumes that Russian strategic culture is the most important factor contributing to the strengthening of its participation in the West Asian Armed Forces process, which prevents the formation of an interfering (US-dominated) international system in the region and the formation of a multipolar system.
Regional promises greater stability. Describing the effective components of Russian strategic culture, this article seeks to explain its strategic rationale for increased participation in West Asian arms trends and its security implications.
Keywords
Russia
foreign policy
defense-security policy
strategic culture
West Asia
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  • Receive Date 09 May 2018
  • Revise Date 13 January 2019
  • Accept Date 19 September 2018
  • Publish Date 09 May 2018